Insiders say that if Midnight Rider does resume production, it could face union pressure, litigation and protests from sectors of the film community that have highlighted Jones' death as a preventable fatality.

The project will likely have to recast if other actors don't return as the film looks to restart production.

Hurt had disclosed in email correspondence that he brought up the danger of shooting on a trestle that crosses the Altamaha River in rural Georgia.

"I said, 'Sixty seconds is not enough time to get us off this bridge.' There was a communal pause. No one backed me up," the actor stated in a copy of an email published by the Los Angeles Times on March 21.